Following a long and intensive recruitment process, led externally through Gatenby Sanderson, we are delighted to confirm the appointment of Lizann Lowson to the post of Chief Executive Officer. We had an excellent field from around the country and Lizann was the outstanding candidate following the interview process and the unanimous choice of the interview panel.

Lizann is currently working in the field of further education at the Hull College Group and will take up her position in August following the retirement of Dave McCready at the end of July. She is naturally delighted to be appointed and we are looking forward to working with her. 

Ian Furlong

Chair of the Trust

A reminder for colleagues that Office 365 ProPlus is now available with your academy email account. As part of the Trust’s enterprise agreement with Microsoft, staff and learners are able to download and install Microsoft Office ProPlus desktop applications AT NO ADDITIONAL COST. For further information on how to install, please download the attached document.

Our final News@TCAT of the year is the festive edition. Wishing all colleagues, learners and their families and everyone in our local communities a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Our Partnerships@TCAT booklet outlines the services we provide to our academies and gives an insight as to what we can offer to those looking to join The Consortium Academy Trust.

This week we welcome Jennie Ellis who has joined TCAT as a Mental Health Support Worker, as part of our commitment to Better Together@TCAT. Jennie says 'I am here as part of your team to fulfil the Health and Wellbeing Commitment set by TCAT. What does that mean? Confidential one to one weekly sessions or single sessions with staff, as well as Self-care and Wellbeing strategies, with the goal of collaboratively working together to cut through the pressures of life. Self-care is not selfish, you can't pour from an empty cup.' 

We are delighted that our academies will be able to share GCSE results with young people today. These are a testament to their hard work and perseverance over many years, with the support of the great staff who work tirelessly to ensure they have a positive learning experience and be their best selves.

As a Trust we wanted to take the opportunity to explain how results were determined this year in our academies. As you know, this year’s GCSE results had to be awarded differently from usual, after exams were unable to go ahead due to Covid-19. Schools and colleges were asked to use their professional experience to make a fair and objective judgement of the grades they believed a student would have achieved had they sat their exams this year, and to submit these Centre-Assessed Grades (CAGs) to the relevant exam board.

Groups of teachers and leaders in each subject in all of our academies worked together to discuss and agree the Centre-Assessed Grade for each student on an individual basis. They took into account a wide range of available evidence, including class work, mock exams, homework, internal assessments and other records of student performance.

The intention was that the exam boards would then moderate the CAGs, to check that schools and colleges had approached this task consistently, before providing students with their final calculated grades. Unfortunately, as you will no doubt be aware, the method they used to do this proved problematic, and was likely to lead to many grades being unfairly downgraded and therefore placing the life chances of our young people at risk.

The government therefore made the decision that GCSE and A level students would be awarded whichever was higher for each subject – their CAG or their centrally calculated grade. The grades that each young person receives today will therefore be whichever is the higher of these two grades.